Empowering women with ideas, sharing

They’re from countries as diverse as India and Iceland, Nepal and Nigeria.

Sixteen women, who run programs in their homelands that promote education, health care and gender equality, are in San Diego on the last leg of a three-week, cross-country networking, fact-finding and idea-sharing tour.

On Wednesday, they explored the new “Empowering Women” exhibit at Balboa Park’s Museum of Man and talked about what they’ll take back home with them.

For Aruna Mantena, of southern India, it’s surely the memory of seeing snow for the first time. Checking out the vibrant live music scene in Austin was a highlight for Tajana Broz, of Croatia. Denmark’s Susanne Philipson said they’ll always have the bond that emerged over a short period of time, but they hope will be sustained through a new group Facebook page.

Perhaps most important, is a collective understanding of the universal obstacles that women face — political, economic and cultural — whether in the first world or developing nations.

“Before, I felt that only India had these problems. I learned these problems are all over, in every country,” said Mantena, the executive officer and head of development initiatives for a group that helps poor women in India produce and sell hand-woven garments.

Aruna Mantena, left, from India was one of 16-women who visited the Empowering Women exhibit at the at the San Diego Museum of Man in Balboa Park. The visit was in part arranged by the San Diego Diplomacy Council, in conjunction with the International Visitor Leadership Program, a professional exchange program of the U.S. Department of State. — Howard Lipin

“We feel like sisters now,” said Philipson, a former local police commissioner in Denmark and the director of a humanitarian organization that combats domestic violence. “Despite all our differences, being from all these places, we all have the same challenges.”

The 16 women came to the United States through the State Department’s International Visitor Leadership Program. Their stop here was arranged, in part, through the San Diego Diplomacy Council, a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization. The council brings the world to San Diego, through international delegations like the women’s group, said executive director Jill Secard.

The women fly home Saturday, but not before some serious work, including a presentation on the recovery program at GenerateHope, for victims of sexual exploitation, and a meeting with members of the San Diego State’s women’s studies department. Also on the agenda are off-duty diversions like a city tour and a trip to the zoo.

On the way to the museum Wednesday morning, the women snapped pictures of the sights in Balboa Park and of each other.

A detailed walk-through of the small, but striking, “Empowering Women” exhibit was conducted by Hope Carlson, chief development officer for the San Diego Museum of Man. The exhibit was organized by the Museum of International Folk Art, in Santa Fe.

As Carlson went through the exhibit’s stories of artisan cooperatives around the globe that help women attain financial independence by selling their handiworks, she’d stop to acknowledge a gasp or a smile in the crowd.

“We have a similar organization in my country, so I can relate,” Ines Amri, of Tunisia, jumped in, during a talk on a cooperative in Morocco.

Carlson ceded the floor to Mantena, the visitor from India, who had intimate knowledge of the cooperative in her homeland.

“They have 9 million members, they have their own bank, for the first time, they are making minimum wage,” she said proudly. The cooperative provides the raw materials to be woven, as well as microloans and matching grants to women trying to start, or stay in, a business.

After the exhibit tour, Oluwatosin Olowoyeye, from Nigeria, was overwhelmed by the determination and resilience of the cooperative members. Tears came to her eyes.

“I’m so inspired. They are changing the world. It’s mind-blowing,” said Olowoyeye, the director and founder of Nigeria’s Resource Sharing Network, which aims to educate that country’s more than 5 million girls who don’t go to school.

“When you invest in a girl’s education, she’s going to feed herself, her friends, her family, her community,” she said. “That’s why we focus on girls.”